30 Years Ago, Another President Attended a Seder

The Obama family’s Seder tonight might be the first at the White House, but it won’t be the first that a sitting president has attended.

Notably, President Jimmy Carter attended an emotional Seder in 1979 at the Washington home of then- domestic policy adviser Stuart Eizenstat, just days after the conclusion of a U.S.-Egypt peace agreement that followed on the Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt.

Eizenstat recalled that nervous Secret Service agents wouldn’t let him open the front door – a key moment in the ceremony when the spirit of Elijah enters to partake of the wine – because they had already secured it. Eizenstat negotiated an agreement allowing him to open the door to the patio. Earlier, as the meal began, Carter became emotional when Eizenstat described the progress on Israeli-Egyptian peace as a “closing of the circle” that began with the exodus itself.

The Obamas’ Seder “is a very symbolic gesture of outreach to the Jewish community,’’ Eizenstat said, but also reflects “the universalist message of freedom from bondage” – one that echoes the Obamas’ own heritage as well, he added.

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